[Henry Chinaski]

One thing I always look out for when checking the new rankings on a monday are the highest ranked players without a title. Got me thinking about players who achieved good rankings but have yet to win a title and those in the past that finished their careers without one.

Of currently active players here's a list that is by no means definitive.

Active titleless players who have reached the top 40 and their career high ranking:

Viktor Troicki 24
Potito Starace 27
Andreas Seppi 27
Dudi Sela 29
Harel Levy 30
Kristof Vliegen 30
Janko Tipsarevic 33
Andreas Beck 33
Florian Mayer 33
Julien Benneteau 35
Simone Bolelli 36
Marc Gicquel 37
Christophe Rochus 38
Ernests Gulbis 38
Nicolas Mahut 40

Also, what are the highest rankings achieved by players before they went on to win their first title?

Tsonga for example had been to 11 in the world but Baghdatis reaching 8 before claiming his first title must be hard to beat.

I'm too lazy to look into the latter or the numbers for retired players but it would make for interesting reading if some one else could provoide more comprehensive, less half-assed lists

[Snoo Foo]

of course they're titless, they're dudes

[Caio_Brasil]

I remember Saretta was 44 and never won a title, but that's the only name that comes to my mind.

[TankingTheSet]

It's interesting that some of the players mentioned are still regularly active on the challenger circuit, where they have won plenty of titles. For example Vliegen and Starace. Of course there's a big difference between ATP and challengers but I guess there are few higher-ranked players who also didn't win at the challenger level (because they didn't spend much time in the challenger circuit). I remember Seppi was completely title-less for a while before winning Bergamo challenger in 2008.

It's strange how Gulbis could win multiple challengers as a teenager but now can't win two win two consecutive matches.

[Archer16]

Active titleless players who have reached the top 40 and their career high ranking:

Harel Levy 30